Systems and methods for ink jet printing on textiles are well known. “Direct to garment” printing provides for the production of an image by placing ink drops on the textile (garment) at distinct adjacent sites. This method of digital printing on textiles normally features an inkjet printer which applies ink on top of the textile. Herein a textile is a flexible material comprised of a network of natural or artificial fibers often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw wool fibers, linen, cotton, or other material on a spinning wheel to produce long strands known as yarn. Textiles are formed by weaving, knitting, crocheting, knotting, or pressing fibers together. When applied, the ink penetrates the textile saturating the fibers which is desirable for the image to be wash fast, meaning the ink does not rinse away when the textile is laundered.
Ink is delivered to the textile through print heads in a manner similar to that employed by standard inkjet printers used for printing on paper products. Changes in textile thickness, print heads settings, and image size as well as environmental changes and different weaves from different mills impact the application of the image on the textile. It is desirable to minimize the distortion or inconsistency of images. In addition, current methods do not allow a means for changing ink heads in the middle of a print process, therefore the process must be stopped, the head removed, replaced and realigned before beginning the print process again. Performing these steps is difficult and can compromise the printing of the current image. Furthermore, current methods require the use of multiple machines to complete the printing process, i.e. separate machines and personnel for pretreatment, printing and curing. Finally current systems and methods may require multiple passes to accomplish each step. The present invention provides novel systems, methods and apparatuses for a continuous line process of printing a digital continuously variable (e.g. non-repeating) image on a textile.